Camano could get another library vote

CAMANO ISLAND — The board of trustees of Sno-Isle Libraries is set to decide Monday whether it will give the voters of Camano Island another chance to pass a bond issue to fund a permanent library on the island.

The library bond measure that appeared on the primary election ballot in August narrowly missed the required 60 percent approval for passage. It failed by less than 1.3 percent or about 75 votes.

It is likely that the library will be closed.

“It’s a painful situation,” said Ken Harvey, spokesman for Sno-Isle earlier this week. “The board is trying to discern whether the citizens of Camano are interested in working on another campaign for a permanent library.”

The Camano Island Library has been operating as a Sno-Isle pilot project since 2007 in a 1,800-square-foot store front at Terry’s Corner.

The lease on the space is up early next year and the bank that owns the property is not interested in extending that lease, Harvey said.

If the trustee board decides it would be worth trying to float another bond issue, it would take a formal vote on the issue Dec. 16 and, if approved, would put the bond proposition on the April 22 ballot.

It would help if Camano Island voters and library users willing to work on another election would attend the meeting Monday, Harvey said.

A survey commissioned by Sno-Isle last year showed that two-thirds of Camano’s population of 15,600 people use the library and that most of those people are willing to pay for the construction of a bigger, permanent library.